The Crystal Heart Formal

by AppleJTZ

"Let's Go, Shadowbolts!"

Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long to finish this. Some of the parts here are actually two years old, but it took forever to get this done. So without further ado, here is my final Shadowbolts story. Enjoy!

The hallways of Crystal Prep Academy glittered and sparkled, giving off a noble, if somewhat decadent glow. Why the entire school, from its floors and walls to the columns and ceiling were built out of crystal was a mystery nobody knew the answer to. Perhaps the bright material was supposed to represent the spirit of brilliance and perfection this school represented. Perhaps it symbolized the minds of the students going to the school, which would be cleaned and polished until they were just as perfect and bright as the crystal. Or perhaps it was just to justify the Crystal in the name. Whatever the reason, Crystal Prep Academy was a beautiful place, both on the outside and the inside.

Not quite as shiny, but still very pretty was the gym of Crystal Prep Academy. Separate from the main building, it featured the same crystalline architecture on the outside. From the inside it wasn’t quite as shiny, looking more like a regular sports hall, safe for a few crystal columns and a handful of decorative elements. The majority of the hall was taken up by a large sports field, which of course was just as smooth and sparkling as the floors of the academy. Each side the field was flanked by a large tribune, offering seats for well over a hundred spectators if needed.

On the edge of the field, near the entrance doors, five girls were taking a look around the hall. One was crossing her arms, critically inspecting everything, while another one had her hands on her hips, a confident look on her face. The third one stared with monotonous nonchalance at everything around her, and the fourth girl wore an excited, if a little smug expression. The fifth one didn’t really seem to care for what they were doing, standing around while making a bored face.

The girl with the crossed arms turned towards her. At first it seemed like she wanted to glare a hole into her head, before a large smile suddenly formed on her face. “Excuse me, Lemon, but would you do us all a favor and stop looking like you’re about to throw up?” Sour asked, her smile vanishing as fast as it had appeared.

“Yeah!” Indigo said, also glaring at the rocker girl. “This was your idea anyway.”

Blowing a strand of her green hair out of her face, Lemon scoffed. “Throwing a party was my idea – never said I wanted to organize it.”

“Then who did you think would organize it?” Sugarcoat asked, in her usual calm and dry, somewhat aggressive manner of speech.

Lemon shrugged. “Some geeks, a friendly handyman, a magic pony princess from another dimension or sumthin’ - just not me. I’m the type who parties hard, not the type who works hard…”

Turning around Lemon showed her back to the others. Sunny stepped to her side, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I must say, it was a great idea having a gala to ignite the spirit of friendship at Crystal Prep” she said, casually brushing her hand through her bangs.

Lemon glared at Sunny’s smug face for a moment. With two finger she pinched her hand, putting it off her shoulders. “It’s a party – not a gala, ball or some other fancy thing, but a party.”

Sunny shrugged. “Whatever.”

Meanwhile, Sour had taken a few steps onto the field. The hall was almost as large as a soccer field, but since the tribunes could be retreated into the walls it was actually even larger. Several sports instruments were scattered across it, from exercise mats to springboks. “Lemon has a point though” she told her friends, showing them a sweet, darling smile and a sweet, darling eye-lash. “While it would be reeeaaaal great to have a party here, celebrating with ALL the students to strengthen the bonds of friendship at this school – it’s gonna take forever to set up - this place is friggin’ huge!” In an instant her peppy spirit had dropped, slouching her shoulders.

“I admit, the gym is rather large” Sunny said, turning around herself while staring up at the ceiling. “We’ll probably have to work every free minute outside of school if we want to get done until Friday.”

“Then let’s get started!” With a leap Indigo jumped into the center of the group. “We promised Dean Cadence to spread the spirit of friendship at this school, and there’s no better opportunity than this!”

Sunny and Sour exchanged a glance, before cracking a smile. “Yeah!” they shouted.

“We’re gonna get this place ready in no time” Indigo yelled, pumping her fist into the air. “And then we’ll throw a party like this school has never seen before!”

“YEAH!” Starting to feel excited, Sugarcoat joined in on the chorus. Even Lemon looked over her shoulder at the energetic athlete.

“We will clean this place until its sparkles brighter than the rest of the school!”

“YEAH!” all four girls screamed in unison, Indigo’s spirit rubbing off on them.

“We’ll scrub off every little piece of dust!”

“YEAH!!”

“We’ll turn this boring old gym into the coolest place this city has ever seen!”

“YEAH!!!”

“We’ll make sure this is gonna be the best night ever – even it kills us!”

“YEAH!... Wait, what?” A look of irritation crossed the faces of Indigo’s friends.

“We’ll work until our bones break, our spine snaps, until every last drop of sweat has been drained out from our body – and even then we will continue to drag our bodies across the floor, enduring the pain that numbs our senses as we work off the very core of our soul until-”

The over-excited teenager was cut off as Sour placed a hand over her mouth. “Thank you, Indy – but I think we get the point.”

Indigo blushed, smiling a little sheepishly as Sour removed her hand. Clearing her throat, she said in a calmer tone: “Besides, we can’t back out now after we told everyone ‘bout this – there’s even a big announcement on the school homepage.”

Sour snickered. “Yeah, like anyone ever looks at the school homepage.”

“A lot of people check it for the cafeteria menu…”

“Shut it, Sugar.”

Pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket, Sunny opened the school homepage. A banner popped up, showing a big picture of a crystalline heart. There was a large text written across it in big, dark pink letters. “This Friday at the gym, the Crystal Heart Formal” she read out loud. “Food, music and drinks are free – we’ll dance until they kick us out.” She threw a look over her shoulder at Lemon. “I guess you were the one who added that clever little bit at the end?”

Lemon shrugged. “Somehow had to balance out your lame-o name.”

Indigo shook her head. “Seriously, what kind of name is ‘Crystal Heart Formal’? Like, you couldn’t have thought of anything more kitsch and girly!”

“That wasn’t my idea!” Sunny protested, stemming her hands against her sides. “Principal Cinch insisted on it.”

Curiously Indigo raised an eyebrow. “Why that? Can’t imagine she is the poetic type.”

“It’s got something to do with tradition – one sec…” Sunny’s thumb skipped over her screen, browsing through the internet. After finding what she was looking for she read quietly for a moment, before raising her voice to her friends. “Apparently, the Crystal Heart formal used to be a school tradition that was abandoned already before Cinch became principal. Originally it was a small fair on the school property, but turned into a formal dance. The purpose was to celebrate the spirit of unity and comradery, set up in times when the school was already an elite academy, but not quite as…” She cleared her throat “…strict.” Putting down her phone she let it glide back into its pocket. “It hasn’t been celebrated since decades, but apparently is still part of the school codex, and the only form of after-school festival that is allowed at Crystal Prep aside from prom night.”

“Which is lucky for us, cause else Dean Cadence probably would have never gotten Cinch to allow it” Sugarcoat remarked.

Lemon chuckled. “Yeah, she was already ticked when we pulled off the whole casual Friday thing – can’t imagine how mad she must be knowing people are gonna DANCE and have FUN at Crystal Prep!”

The girls shared a laugh. “All right” Sour exclaimed, clapping her hands. While her voice was commanding, she was wearing a genuine smile as she spoke. “It’s time we get started! Me and Indigo will clean the floor. Sunny, you will start putting all the sports instruments into the closet – we’ll help you later with the heavy stuff. Lemon, since you are the party queen of us you will organize everything, make a list of what we need and how to decorate the hall. Sugarcoat, you’ll help her to make sure she doesn’t mess up.”

Lemon frowned. “Hey, why do I get the most work?”

“What am I supposed to say?” Sugarcoat asked, also frowning. “I’m basically gonna play your nanny.”

“Alright, does everybody know what they got to do? Then let’s get to it!” She was about to dash off, when she heard Indigo clear her throat. Turning around, she saw the blue-haired girl was holding out her hand, palm pointing downwards, into the center of their group. “Seriously?” A little annoyed Sour glared at her. “I thought I made clear we’d never do that again.”

“Come on, just this once!” Indigo pleaded, though with her lips forming a challenging grin.

Sighing, Sour shook her head. “Alright, alright” she mumbled, putting her hand above Indigo’s. Sugarcoat, Lemon and Sunny followed, stacking their hands to a tower. Everyone took in a deep breath, before throwing their hands up in the air together.

“LET’S GO, SHADOWBOLTS!!”

Comments

[Regreme]

Cute, and glad to see you return. Stinks that this'll be the last one, but I can't deny that it's understandable the hardships of continuing sometimes, eh?

[Random User 22]

WHOO! NEW SHADOWBOLT STORY!!

Before I made this account I read all the Shadowbolts stories you made. And I really liked them all. And I'm really excited to see what's next for these guys.

[BenRG]

It's interesting that there's a history to this party. It's possible that Cinch wants to rebuild the school's sense of shared community after all the issues post-Friendship Games that show just how badly it's decayed.

Lemon? If you want Princess Twilight to do all your work for you, be prepared to spend the next few days crawling to the Rainbooms (and particularly Sunset Shimmer) to get their help to convince her to do so.